October 8, 1392. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
81 
ZONAL PELARGONIUMS 
FOR WINTER. 
Pelargoniums of this class that have been prepared 
for winter flowering will now be making a show and 
doubly acceptable at this season of the year, as 
tuberous Begonias, and the bulk of the summer 
flowering subjects, are getting over. A little artificial 
heat must now be given them to maintain an airy 
and buoyant atmosphere as the days get shorter, the 
sun more feeble, and dull wet days prevalent. We 
had the pleasure of inspecting a nice collection of the 
best and more recent varieties suitable for this pur¬ 
pose, a week ago, in the Ryecroft Nursery, Hither' 
Green, Lewisham, belonging to Mr. H. J. Jones, who 
has now some fine glasshouses built on modern 
Drinciples for ensuring the proper growth of the 
plants grown in them. There is no season of the 
year when Zonal Pelargoniums are seen to better ad¬ 
vantage than in autumn and winter. 
We noted a few only of the best and more recent 
kinds notable for the size of the flowers, richness of 
colour, and distinctness. A beautiful velvety, crim¬ 
son scarlet is H. Shoesmith, having a small white 
eye. The flowers of Proserpino are of a beautiful 
salmon with a scarlet centre, and freely produced on 
dwarf plants. Very dwarf and pretty also is Lady 
Brooke, with white flowers and a pink eye. Mr. 
Jones considers the Duchess of Portland the best 
pink variety. It has large trusses and flowers, and 
the petals are very persistent, with a white blotch at 
the base of the upper two. Parker’s Favourite has 
very large, clear scarlet flowers. Large also are 
those of Katherine Morgan, and salmon with a lighter 
edge. A yellow Pelargonium may yet be a reality, 
for Aurea perfecta shows a strong tendency in that 
direction, with large, bright orange flowers. 
As yellow is a desirable and possibly attainable 
colour, so also is blue. The variety Richard Dean 
has been considered the nearest approach to that hue 
for some years, but Mrs. W. Wright is considered 
an improvement upon it. The flowers are large, pro¬ 
duced in huge trusses, and bright magenta with a 
scarlet blotch at the base of each of the two upper 
petals. It is, however, scarce, and has been com¬ 
pletely cut up for the sake of cuttings, some of which 
bore flowers ; not of a large size it is true, but show¬ 
ing their rich and beautiful colour. Sir Percival is 
in good style, with large pure white flowers borne in 
large trusses. A free flowering sort also is Phryne, 
having rich cerise flowers, shaded with plum and 
freely borne in good trusses. Large trusses of bright 
scarlet flowers are produced by D. B. Crane ; but 
Lord Salisbury is even finer—in fact, considered the 
best dark variety in commerce, whether grown in pots 
or planted out in beds. The flowers are of a rich 
madder, velvety, shining, and produced in large 
trusses. 
Only a few semi-double varieties are cultivated 
here, the old-fashioned double varieties, with small, 
full, and compact flowers, not being very popular at 
the present day. Spenser Philipps is a semi-double, 
dwarf, and floriferous variety with salmon-coloured 
flowers tinted with scarlet in the centre. Those of 
Golden Rain are of the same type, bright orange 
coloured, like Aurea perfecta amongst the singles, 
and very attractive. 
-- 
MODERN FRUIT 
CULTURE. 
Under this title Messrs. George Bunyard & Co., of 
Maidstone, have just published a little shilling 
manual on the culture and management of fruit trees, 
and which contains much valuable practical informa¬ 
tion on Apricots, Peaches and Nectarines on open 
walls, Apples, Pears and Plums, for villa gardens, 
Cordon trees, the preparation of Strawberries for 
forcing, early Strawberries in the open air, orchard- 
house trees, and Apricots in cool houses. The con¬ 
cluding chapter is on root pruning, being the paper 
read by Mr. Bunyard last month at one of the meet¬ 
ings of the Royal Horticultural Society. From this 
paper we quote the concluding paragraph, which 
forcibly illustrates the evils of deep trenching and 
the wisdom of the old saw anent the possession of 
more money than wit:— 
” I quote the case of a garden noted for its grand 
fruit. On planting, the land was trenched 6 ft. deep, 
and for a few years the trees grew very fast and pros¬ 
pered, producing gigantic fruit, though not in great 
abundance; suddenly the foliage of the Pears and 
Apples became yellow at the tips, and mildew set in, 
and then canker appeared. The trees had been in¬ 
duced to root deeply, by the best soil being placed at 
the bottom of the trench, and on their gaining the 
desired food they exhausted its goodness, and were 
too far from the surface to gain much by mulching. 
Many died outright. By degrees examples were 
lifted and placed in better conditions, and when last 
I saw them finer crops could not be desired, or 
better specimens of cultural care. It was an initial 
mistake to trench the land so deeply.” 
- -*« - 
NOTES FROM BRIGHTON. 
[Concluded from p. 67 ) 
After due consideration with reference to the events 
of last week, we decide to leave the picturesque 
railway station of Preston.cut out of the solid chalk 
and overhung with purple Beech and Mountain Ash 
and embosomed in stately Elms, and court the high 
lands on the western side of Brighton proper ere we 
return. Immediately on the threshold of our depar¬ 
ture we observe a row of new houses built in the cliff, 
whose little gardens, Babylonian like, do seem to 
hang about them. So little do the builders regard 
obstructions here that the said gardens are elevated 
to aerial rank, are on a par with the upper stories and 
approached therefrom. 
Verily these are times of stern utility. A little 
further and the allotments—those nineteenth century 
gifts—loom in sight. Much labour, joyously given 
and persistently demanded, is required. The soil is 
shallow and the chalk is dry, the exposure is great, 
the work is hard, the result not always adequate to 
the strain endured, and yet the workers work on and 
let the hope that is in them find consummation in a 
good harvest time. ” It is a poor heart that never 
rejoices,” and this season’s crops will undoubtedly 
bring that which he aspires to. 
On the other hand his agri-horticultural neighbour, 
with larger means and consequent responsibilities, 
vies with him on a grander scale to produce those 
necessaries of modern life—fresh vegetables. Here 
are fields of Brassicaand Legumes, here is the plough 
at work turning over the rich brown ferruginous-look¬ 
ing soil, so different to the thin pasty nature of the 
plots just witnessed ; and here are twenty-six rows 
of the Allium tribe, each half-a-mile long and the 
bulbs about twelve to the foot; query, how many 
Onions are there, and what is the value ? These are 
now being turned about to ripen them, and the sight 
was to me a novel and interesting one. 
Beyond are the Victoria Nurseries, one of the 
many plant emporiums that cater for the Brighton 
taste. Grapes, Tomatos, Mums, and miscellaneous 
subjects in abundance ; Euonymus of course, which, 
in the case of the variegated varieties, grafting is 
resorted to to gain a season. But what struck me as 
of particular importance was the great preference 
given to Carnation Marguerite, which Mr. G. Miles 
told me found a ready sale, and which he relied on 
largely for button-holes and bouquets. They are 
treated as annuals, seed being sown early, planted 
out as soon as weather permits, when they rapidly 
develop into dwarf, stocky, little bushes laden with 
flowers. All the best specimens may be lifted later, 
when the buds, under glass, will continue to unfold 
their charms right into the spring months. 
Many pretty villas, hereabouts, attract the eye ; but 
space forbids. One large vase, however, must be 
noticed for its grace and simplicity, it merely con¬ 
tained Pelargonium, Henry Jacoby, surrounded by 
Gazania splendens, and this again by the little seen 
Convolvulus Mauritanicus, which draped the vase 
with its beautiful mauve-coloured blooms in quite 
artistic style. 
Tbence onward to the market where the cycle ends. 
Here, in their season, come the flowers, and fruits 
and vegetables from the neighbouring fields. The 
market is well supplied with every desideratum, the 
flowers are fresh and clean, the fruit and vegetables 
of the best quality, the pot plants in excellent health, 
and the prices extremely moderate. On Saturday 
mornings early the scene is a busy one, and the 
" market” is totally inadequate to receive the produce. 
The pot plants that took my fancy were Aster 
amellus bessarabicus, Chrysanthemum flora, Aralia 
japonica, and Pteris serrulata cristata. All these 
were veritable pictures of health, flower, and foliage. 
— C.B. G., Acton, IV. 
VAGARIES OF MODERN 
GLADIOLI. 
Gladioli are now getting so popular, and so many 
seedlings are being raised annually to meet the de" 
mand, that we cannot be surprised at the appearance 
of abnormal or unusual forms occurring amongst 
them, as in the case of so many other garden plants 
that are crossed, intercrossed and extensively raised 
from seeds. The natural form of the flower is ir¬ 
regular, consisting of six segments in two series of 
three each. The odd one of the outer series is upper¬ 
most and that of the inner series lowermost, and 
smaller than any of the rest. The small one is 
generally characterised by having a blotch along the 
centre of a darker and different colour from the rest. 
The above arrangement is often disturbed amongst 
the more modern varieties of Gladioli. The odd seg¬ 
ment of the inner series is sometimes the uppermost, 
and in that case attains the size of the two others in 
their normal condition. The latter, however, when 
turned to the lower side of the flower, are small, and 
both have a central blotch. Occasionally all the 
flowers on one side of the spike are normal, while on 
the other side they are all abnormal with two small 
blotched segments on the lower side. In other cases 
these two forms of flowers are irregularly mixed. 
When two of the segments of the inner series are at 
the lower side of the flower, the odd segment of the 
outer series beneath them has generally a medium 
blotch also. These characters may be seen in 
Bicolor, Berthe, and many seedlings. In the first- 
named there may be one large creamy or nearly 
white blotch on the lower inner segment, or the three 
lowest segments may each have a blotch. Usually 
the flowers of Conquerant show variations like those 
recorded above, but sometimes the flowers are as 
nearly regular and symmetrical as possible, a 
character which is altogether abnormal in Gladiolus. 
The regular flowers are rose, tinted with scarlet at 
the edges with a white line along each segment, but 
without any blotch. Seedlings also sometimes ap¬ 
pear in public having regular flowers, the outer seg¬ 
ments being blush and the inner ones slightly darker, 
but each three alike, consequently constituting a case 
of peloria. Others of the same type have the outer 
segments blush and the inner ones pink, or the outer 
ones deep rose with a paler midrib, and the inner 
ones smaller but otherwise similar. Some varieties 
show variation of a different character. The flowers 
are regular to commence with, and therefore ab¬ 
normal. On one side of the flower spike they may be 
all regular, with the three outer segments white and 
the inner three pink ; on the other side they may be 
white and splashed all over with rose, or the two 
kinds of flowers may be mixed, but in each case sym¬ 
metrical in form and alike in colour, 
-- 4 *-- 
A BLUE CARNATION. 
In your last issue, under the heading “A Blue 
Carnation,” R. D. suggests the probability of the 
slate colour exhibited in several varieties ultimately 
developing into a "true blue.” This I think 
impossible. If R. D. or any other of your readers 
will examine a portion of a petal of any Carnation 
of a grey tint under a microscope or fairly powerful 
lense, they will perceive there is no more advance to 
a blue in this than in the ordinary purple or mauve. 
The colouring matter in these greys is not, as many 
may suppose, grey, but purple. The great difference 
between the grey and the purple is not so much due 
to the tint of the colouring matter as to its distribu¬ 
tion. In the purple it is diffused equally throughout 
the entire contents of the cells, of which the petal, 
or rather the epidermis of the petal (for colouring 
matter is only found in this) is composed. 
In the grey the colouring matter has accumulated 
to one spot (either vacuole, nucleus, or pigment 
corpuscle). I have not prepared a specimen to 
determine what this spot may be, but it appears that 
the colouring matter in these grey Carnations is 
soluble only in the cell-sap (vacuole), and wil not 
penetrate the protoplasm; therefore it is retained 
wholly by the cell-sap in the vacuole, and appears as 
a small purple spot in each cell. The combination 
of the colour of this spot with the white cell wall 
gives the characteristic grey appearance to these 
varieties. 
May a blue Carnation ever be produced ? We 
are quite as far from this in the grey as we are in the 
purple. Red is the predominant colour in every 
Carnation (save in the yellow), and until this be 
eliminated we shall be without a blue. Is this 
possible l—Geo. Chaundy, New Marston, Oxford. 
